A good day

[kiwigeo]

Well Ive been her in Christchurch NZ since last Wednesday and up till today the daily routine was driving into the city and feeding a ravenous parking meter while I visited my father in hospital or shopped for my wife. Visits to the hospital havent been alot of fun....my father has usually been out of it and most of the time has been spent chatting with nurses or fellow patients.

Today was a bit different. I started the day with a drive up to Waipara and then jumped on a steam hauled train through the Weka Pass to Waikari. The loco hauling the train was an A class loco and today was its 100th birthday so all of the people behind the project were present. I picked up a book written about the railway and got it signed by the author....a knowledgable old character with a great passion for the railway.

The trip up through the Weka Pass was great...I ended up having a whole carriage to myself. The chairman of the group behind the project stopped off halfway through the trip and we sat talking trains and railways for the remainder of the journey.

In the afternoon I went to visit the hospital and found my father much more alert than he has been on previous visits. While talking about the lute and how I was using hide glue on the instrument the patient in the next bed pricked up his ears and asked me if I had just mentioned the words hide glue. Turns out he does restoration work on vintage cars and uses hide glue quite a bit on car woodwork. The next hour turned into a long winded conversation abut glue and wood...while my dad pretended to look interested.

Back in the hotel now enjoying a Monteiths Radler and watching the All Blacks getting pasted by England in the rugby.

Cheers Martin

[Nick]

Glad your Dad's better & 'on the mend' Martin. Never been on the Weka Pass train but I like the country up that way, didn't stop off at Mudhouse and grab a couple of bottles of plonk did you? They make a nice Chardonnay and the Sav Blanc aint too foul either.
Kiwi's shouldn't have run onto the park by the looks of it! Considering they are the current world champs they were made to look like a bunch of plonkers by a fired up & well drilled England. All Black won against Wales though so a small consolation.

[Paul B]

Glad to hear your old man is doing better.

There's a place just south of Christchurch (on the left as you head south) that sells jumpers made of a wool/possum fur blend (that'd be a sweater to you yanks). They cost like $300 each, but man when I think of Christchurch I think of that jumper I didn't buy (ten years ago). About the softest/warmest damn thing I ever felt. Should have bought one, and I bet your missus would love one.

[kiwigeo]

Glad your Dad's better & 'on the mend' Martin. Never been on the Weka Pass train but I like the country up that way, didn't stop off at Mudhouse and grab a couple of bottles of plonk did you? They make a nice Chardonnay and the Sav Blanc aint too foul either.

I usually go mad with the wines while over here but this trip Im travelling light and the bag is already full of kiwi T shirts and train books.

One place I usually stop off at up Waipara way is Pegasus bay winery. Their rieslings are nice and also their pinots. Weather has been hot while here so Ive been drinking beer rather than wine. maybe the southerly change tomorrow will be a good excuse to knock back a glass of pinot.

[Nick]

Yeah I managed to convince the weather gods to keep it nice for you knowing how Adelaide would have 'softened' you up
Pegasus do indeed make a nice drop, let the pinot flow.

[kiwigeo]

Most of today spent at Chch Public Hospital waiting for the old man to go into surgery. he finally went in about 1.30pm and was out and awake just over an hour later. Hes got a tube coming out of his nut which is hooked up to a laptop computer to monitor is brain pressure. every time he coughs the thing goes off the scale....he got it up to 22 today so tomorrow well be trying to blow up the laptop with a really big cough. Where the tube comes out of is head theyve plonked a styrene coffee cup to stop him knocking the thing off....looks like a clown hat.

During my endless walks around the city I spied two ugly things in music shop windows......a Sponge Bob guitar and matching amp and even worse....a white flying V ukelele. Some people have absolutely no taste at all

Was walking past an art supply shop and spied some rag paper on their shelves...perfect for the rib reinforcement on the lute so I grabbed some. Will do a test glue up on some scrap rosewood and see how it looks.

[Nick]

During my endless walks around the city I spied two ugly things in music shop windows......a Sponge Bob guitar and matching amp and even worse....a white flying V ukelele. Some people have absolutely no taste at all

Hey that Sponge Bob system was my trade in!!!
Canterbury Music I'm guessing? They like to have 'novelty' instruments in there. Good bunch of helpful guys though & they must be good salepeople too if they can sell half the instruments they have in the windows at times.

[kiwigeo]

Rock Shop in Manchester Street.